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I'm surprised Shafi chooses to remain in the GOP, and held no malice against the knuckledraggers trying to oust him because he's Muslim. He's seen up close and personal the party's unceasing hate for anyone who's not lily white and still wanted to stay. Shafi is far more forgiving than I am, I would've told the party to kiss my ass and left. However, this makes me wonder what other Muslims, especially those persecuted from coast to coast think of Shafi and if they see him as their version of an Uncle Tom?

Naked self interest is probably at work here. Shafi is a surgeon, which means that his number one fear is the onset of universal health care busting him down the socioeconomic ladder from highly paid professional to overworked public servant.

Naked self interest is probably at work here. Shafi is a surgeon, which means that his number one fear is the onset of universal health care busting him down the socioeconomic ladder from highly paid professional to overworked public servant.

Perhaps I'm reading this wrong, so that means he's all too willing to make himself a possible, if not probable pariah in his community and in his religion for the sake of maintaining a cushy lifestyle. Yeah, that's the Republican mindset of greed and privilege all over.

Illegal roads, cut down Joshua trees, and damaged federal property, along with the need to clean up garbage, prompted Joshua Tree National Park Superintendent David Smith to announce Tuesday that the park would close indefinitely on Thursday to address those impacts incurred during the ongoing partial government shutdown.

“The park will be closed until I can ensure that resources inside the park are protected," Smith said during a short phone call. "We’re hoping that the shutdown will be over soon."

While the closure will take effect 8 a.m. Thursday, the superintendent could not say how long it would last. Acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt has directed the National Park Service to use fee revenues brought in under the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act to pay for cleanup and additional law enforcement personnel. Smith said that while his park normally takes in about $9 million a year, most of that has been committed to projects. Staff was working to see how much in unobligated funds remained.

Last week park staff closed its campgrounds to overnight use because of sanitation problems, but many visitors ignored that closure. With just eight law enforcement rangers working during the partial government shutdown it was impossible to cover all areas of the park, which is about the size of Delaware.

"There are about a dozen instances of extensive vehicle traffic off roads and in some cases into wilderness," Smith replied when asked about the damage in the park. "We have two new roads that were created inside the park. We had destruction of government property with the cutting of chains and locks for people to access campgrounds. We’ve never seen this level of out-of-bounds camping. Every day use area was occupied every evening.

Illegal child exploitation imagery is easy to find on Microsoft’s Bing search engine. But even more alarming is that Bing will suggest related keywords and images that provide pedophiles with more child pornography. Following an anonymous tip, TechCrunch commissioned a report from online safety startup AntiToxin to investigate. The results were alarming.

[WARNING: Do not search for the terms discussed in this article on Bing or elsewhere as you could be committing a crime. AntiToxin is closely supervised by legal counsel and works in conjunction with Israeli authorities to perform this research and properly hand its findings to law enforcement. No illegal imagery is contained in this article, and it has been redacted with red boxes here and inside AntiToxin’s report.]

The research found that terms like “porn kids,” “porn CP” (a known abbreviation for “child pornography”) and “nude family kids” all surfaced illegal child exploitation imagery. And even people not seeking this kind of disgusting imagery could be led to it by Bing.

DENVER — In Georgia, a pecan farmer lost out on his chance to buy his first orchard. The local Farm Service Agency office that would have processed his loan application was shut down.

In Wisconsin’s dairy country, a 55-year-old woman sat inside her new dream home, worried she would not be able to pay her mortgage. Her loan had come from an Agriculture Department program for low-income residents in rural areas, but all of the account information she needed to make her first payment was locked away in an empty government office.

And in upstate New York, Pam Moore was feeding hay to her black-and-white cows at a small dairy that tottered on the brink of ruin. She and her husband had run up $350,000 in debt to keep the dairy running after 31 of their cows died of pneumonia, and their last lifeline was an emergency federal farm loan. But the money had been derailed by the government shutdown.

“It has just been one thing after another, after another, after another,” Ms. Moore, 57, said.

Farm country has stood by President Trump, even as farmers have strained under two years of slumping incomes and billions in losses from his trade wars. But as the government shutdown now drags into a third week, some farmers say the loss of crucial loans, payments and other services has pushed them — and their support — to a breaking point.

“I may lose the farm, but I strongly feel we need some border security,” Mr. Nunnery said.

But Davinder Singh, 41, the Georgia pecan farmer, said the border wall was not worth the price he had already paid — losing out on the chance to finally buy his own orchard instead of working other people’s land.

“Why spend money on the wall?” he said. He just wanted the government to reopen — “as soon as possible.”

The Agriculture Department had tried to blunt the effects by keeping local Farm Service Agency offices open through December. And it extended deadlines for farmers to apply for the administration’s $12 billion bailout for farmers hurt by Mr. Trump’s trade policies.

States like Wisconsin, which lost at least 638 dairy farms last year, are particularly vulnerable.

The new farm bill passed in December contained programs to help dairy farmers weather swings in the market, and to help farmers struggling with stress and depression get mental health services. But those programs cannot be put in effect during the shutdown, said Senator Tammy Baldwin, Democrat of Wisconsin.

“More uncertainty and more stress,” she said. “We can’t afford to wait months and months. We need to get this moving now.”

12 Billion dollar bailout so they don't have to feel the pain his tarrifs are causing. Then some payments start getting halted because everyone agrees on border security, but only Trump wants this useless WALL.

Miami International Airport will close a terminal early for three days because of a shortage of Transportation Security Administration screeners, airport spokesman Greg Chin said Thursday.

The security checkpoints in terminal G will be closed after 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, he said. Terminal G is one of six terminals in the airport.
"Due to an increased number of TSA screeners not reporting to work, we have decided to take this precautionary step and relocate about 12 flights to adjoining concourses in the afternoons," he said.

Chin said federal screeners are calling in sick at double the normal rate for Miami, and TSA managers aren't confident they will have enough workers to operate all 11 checkpoints throughout the airport at normal hours.
"We felt we had to make a decision before the weekend," Chin told the Miami Herald. "They're erring on the side of caution."
The government shutdown has left TSA employees working without pay, raising concerns that airports might not be able to provide the usual standard of security.
In a wave of what one federal official has dubbed as the "blue flu"-- a nod to the blue shirts worn by TSA officers -- hundreds of TSA screeners at at least four major airports have called out from their shifts since the shutdown began in December.
Last week, TSA spokesman Michael Bilello acknowledged that "callouts began over the holiday period and have increased," and that the agency was "closely monitoring the situation."
Union officials say officers can't afford to work unpaid.
A TSA union official told CNN some employees have found that showing up for work was actually hurting them financially, when factoring in costs such as child care and commuting. Some skipped work to seek temporary jobs to help make ends meet.

What a mess. Even if they wanted to come to work without pay out of "duty" its hurting them faster to try and show up because of paying for the commutes and child care.

12 Billion dollar bailout so they don't have to feel the pain his tarrifs are causing. Then some payments start getting halted because everyone agrees on border security, but only Trump wants this useless WALL.

As much as I don't want to kick people trying to earn a living while they're down, but it's hard to feel sorry for farmers who were warned about the perils of dealing with an amoral grifter like Trump who would stiff them the first chance he got, something he's done to scores of people for decades, now he's shafting an entire country. Meanwhile....

Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX) told CNN’s John Berman on Friday that the only reason the federal government is still shut down is because President Donald Trump is afraid that the hosts of “Fox & Friends” will say mean things about him.

Escobar pointed out that there was a deal to reopen the government that passed by an overwhelmingly bipartisan majority in the Senate in late December. After Trump watched scathing criticism of the bill on “Fox & Friends,” however, he backed off his pledge to sign it.

I'd call that a combination of ignorant skanks who'll say and do anything to feel up a celebrity, and defiant black women who believe the demonic, white controlled media is out to destroy a proud black man like R.Kelly, even though it's been proven he's an unrepentant scumbag.

I'd call that a combination of ignorant skanks who'll say and do anything to feel up a celebrity, and defiant black women who believe the demonic, white controlled media is out to destroy a proud black man like R.Kelly, even though it's been proven he's an unrepentant scumbag.

I don't think its a racial thing. People send love letters to murders and rapists and all kinds of criminals in prison all the time. They are crazy.

I don't think its a racial thing. People send love letters to murders and rapists and all kinds of criminals in prison all the time. They are crazy.

I beg to differ. There IS a racial component, I've actually overheard black women slamming the media for trying railroad R.Kelly and send him to prison because whites can't handle how he's such a successful black superstar and other assorted nonsense.

I beg to differ. There IS a racial component, I've actually overheard black women slamming the media for trying railroad R.Kelly and send him to prison because whites can't handle how he's such a successful black superstar and other assorted nonsense.

They do realize that "Surviving R. Kelly" was made by a black woman?

"How does the Green Goblin have anything to do with Herpes?" - The Dying Detective

I'd call that a combination of ignorant skanks who'll say and do anything to feel up a celebrity, and defiant black women who believe the demonic, white controlled media is out to destroy a proud black man like R.Kelly, even though it's been proven he's an unrepentant scumbag.

Does no one remember Boondocks at all. This shit was talked about about a decade ago!

Perhaps I'm reading this wrong, so that means he's all too willing to make himself a possible, if not probable pariah in his community and in his religion for the sake of maintaining a cushy lifestyle. Yeah, that's the Republican mindset of greed and privilege all over.